Engineering graduate student earns federal fellowships

Joe Morris, a 2011 Russ College alumnus who is now an electrical engineering master's degree candidate, was offered four of five fellowships he applied for, receiving an honorable mention for the fifth. He accepted the Science, Mathematics and Research for Transformation (SMART) Fellowship with the Department of Defense (DoD).

Morris said he chose the DoD award because of the depth of research support it provides.

"When compared side by side with the other fellowship offers I received, there was no doubt that the SMART was the superior choice not only financially, but also in the amount of support the SMART staff offers to its scholars," Morris said.

Each SMART scholar receives a "cohort administrator" to aid his or her scholar with research questions, issues, academic course advising and thesis support to ensure on-time graduation.

Morris is researching the generation of efficient and reliable sources of ultraviolet (UV) light using III-V semiconductor materials. The project's goal is to use UV light sources in water distribution systems to kill bacteria and viruses.

Once he has completed his graduate studies in June 2012, Morris will begin a full-time position at Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque, N.M., that he already has been guaranteed as part of the fellowship.

Morris also received fellowship offers for the Ohio Space Grant Consortium Fellowship through the Ohio Aerospace Institute, the National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship through the DoD, and the Graduate Student Research Program Fellowship through the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). He received an honorable mention from the National Science Foundation's Graduate Research Fellowship Program.